Jewish-Christian Relations:Papal Protection of the
Jews

(1272)

"Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants
of God, extends greetings and the apostolic
benediction to the beloved sons in Christ,
the faithful Christians, to those here now
and to those in the future.

Even as it is not allowed to the Jews in
their assemblies presumptuously to undertake
for themselves more than that which is permitted
them by law, even so they ought not to suffer
any disadvantage in those [privileges] which
have been granted them. [This sentence, first
written by Gregory I in 598, embodies the
attitude of the Church to the Jew.] Although
they prefer to persist in their stubbornness
rather than to recognize the words of their
prophets and the mysteries of the Scriptures
[which, according to the Church, foretold
the coming of Jesus], and thus to arrive at
a knowledge of Christian faith and salvation;
nevertheless, inasmuch as they have made an
appeal for our protection and help, we therefore
admit their petition and offer them the shield
of our protection through the clemency of
Christian piety. In so doing we follow in
the footsteps of our predecessors of blessed
memory, the popes of Rome-Calixtus, Eugene,
Alexander, Clement, Innocent, and Honorius.

We decree moreover that no Christian shall
compel them or any one of their group to come
to baptism unwillingly. But if any one of
them shall take refuge of his own accord with
Christians, because of conviction, then, after
his intention will have been manifest, he
shall be made a Christian without any intrigue.
For, indeed, that person who is known to have
come to Christian baptism not freely, but
unwillingly, is not believed to posses the
Christian faith.

[The Church, in principle, never approved
of compulsory baptism of Jews.]

Moreover no Christian shall presume to seize,
imprison, wound, torture, mutilate, kill or
inflict violence on them; furthermore no one
shall presume, except by judicial action of
the authorities of the country, to change
the good customs in the land where they live
for the purpose of taking their money or goods
from them or from others.

In addition, no one shall disturb them in
any way during the celebration of their festivals,
whether by day or by night, with clubs or
stones or anything else. Also no one shall
exact any compulsory service of them unless
it be that which they have been accustomed
to render in previous times.

[Up to this point Gregory X has merely repeated
the bulls of his predecessors.]

Inasmuch as the Jews are not able to bear
witness against the Christians, we decree
furthermore that the testimony of Christians
against Jews shall not be valid unless there
is among these Christians some Jew who is
there for the purpose of offering testimony.

[the Church council at Carthage, as early
as 419, had forbidden Jews to bear witness
against Christians; Justinian's law of 531
repeats this prohibition. Gregory X here­­
in accordance with the medieval legal principle
that every man has the right to be judged
by his peers ­­ insists that Jews
can only be condemned if there are Jewish
as well as Christian witnesses against them.
A similar law to protect Jews was issued before
825 by Louis the Pious (814 ­ 840) of
the Frankish Empire.]

Since it happens occasionally that some
Christians lose their children, the Jews are
accused by their enemies of secretly carrying
off and killing these same Christian children
and of making sacrifices of the heart and
blood of these very children. It happens,
too, that the parents of these very children,
or some other Christian enemies of these Jews,
secretly hide these very children in order
that they may be able to injure these Jews,
and in order that they may be able to extort
from them a certain amount of money by redeeming
them from their straits. [Following the lead
of Innocent IV, 1247, Gregory attacks the
ritual murder charge at length.]

And most falsely do these Christians claim
that the Jews have secretly and furtively
carried away these children and killed them,
and that the Jews offer sacrifices from the
heart and the blood of these children, since
their law in this matter precisely and expressly
forbids Jews to sacrifice, eat, or drink the
blood, or to eat the flesh of animals having
claws. This has been demonstrated many times
at our court by Jews converted to the Christian
faith: nevertheless very many Jews are often
seized and detained unjustly because of this.

We decree, therefore, that Christians need
not be obeyed against Jews in a case or situation
of this type, and we order that Jews seized
under such a silly pretext be freed from imprisonment,
and that they shall not be arrested henceforth
on such a miserable pretext, unless­­which
we do not believe­­they be caught
in the commission of the crime. We decree
that no Christian shall stir up anything new
against them, but that they should be maintained
in that status and position in which they
were in the time of our predecessors, from
antiquity till now.

We decree in order to stop the wickedness
and avarice of bad men, that no one shall
dare to devastate or to destroy a cemetery
of the Jews or to dig up human bodies for
the sake of getting money. [The Jews had to
pay a ransom before the bodies of their dead
were restored to them.] Moreover, if any one,
after having known the content of this decree,
should­­which we hope will not happen­­attempt
audaciously to act contrary to it, then let
him suffer punishment in his rank and position,
or let him be punished by the penalty of excommunication,
unless he makes amends for his boldness by
proper recompense. Moreover, we wish that
only those Jews who have not attempted to
contrive anything toward the destruction of
the Christian faith be fortified by support
of such protection ...

Given at Orvieto by the hand of the Magister
John Lectator, vice­chancellor of the
Holy Roman Church, on the 7th of October,
n the first indiction [cycle of fifteen years],
in the year 1272 of the divine incarnation,
in the first year of the pontificate of our
master, the Pope Gregory X."